Red

Chapter 26

Clarissa

"Okay, stand up. It's all right."

Slowly, very slowly, I stood up from the wheelchair, letting out small noises of pain as my leg throbbed in protest and Luna Tyndall, the physical therapist I had been working with for hours now, encouraged me.

Finally, I was upright, most of my weight leaning onto my good right leg. Though that didn't stop some of it falling onto my left, the torn tissue of my leg pressing against the metal of the prosthetic. With nothing to lean on to remove the weight, I collapsed heavily back into the wheelchair, causing it to roll back a bit.

"This is hard," I said, panting. Luna, as she insisted me call her, and I had been at this for hours, exercising my leg and trying to get my body to become used to it. But apparently my body was as my brain. It absolutely refused to cooperate, and it hurt.

Suddenly, my cell phone began to ring. A slight look of annoyance crossed Luna's face when I picked up, but she didn't say anything.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Clarissa?"

I was caught by surprise. "Hi, Marley. Uh, how did you get my number?"

"Mike left his phone at my house. I don't even think he realized he did, not in the current state he's in."

Concern flew through my mind for my older brother. "What do you mean?"

"You mean you don't know? Well, I guess Mike couldn't call you so–"

"Marley, just tell me what happened."

"Nate is at the hospital. We rescued him. Mike, though, is in a bit of a state of shock because the guy who helped us was killed. Mike tried to save him, but it was too late. He should be in the hospital, too, somewhere. They've been there for roughly fifteen minutes now."

I hung up on Marley. I turned to the physical therapist. "I need get back to the hospital. Like, now."

"But we were just beginning to make progress–"

"I know," I cut her off. "And I'll be back tomorrow. But my boyfriend is in the hospital, and my brother is wandering around somewhere in shock. Please?"

Luna sighed. From the hours we'd been together, I'd picked up she didn't like to be interrupted. "Alright." She called the nurse over who had brought me here. Turning back to me. "You better come back tomorrow, even if you're sore. You need to learn how to walk with the prosthetic."

I nodded. To the nurse, I said, "Let's go."

He wheeled me back across the parking lot into the hospital. I rolled myself to the front desk. "Hi, um, what room is Nate Walker in?"

The woman there checked her computer. "I'm sorry, Mr. Walker isn't permitted any visitors at the moment. He's getting stitches."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "Stitches? Why?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't say. Patient confidentiality."

"Please?" I was practically begging her. "I'm his girlfriend. Please?"

I could tell she was contemplating whether to break her protocol or not. Finally, she said, "He came in about twenty minutes ago. His torso was covered in deep cuts. I can't say anymore. You understand."